1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to controlling the firing of a weapon, and, more particularly, to controlling the firing rate, number of times, and time period of a weapon.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Automatic weapons have a known tendency toward reduced control and accuracy when firing in fully automatic mode. This problem is primarily associated with automatic weapons with excessively high rates-of-fire. All weapons experience some degree of muzzle-rise due to recoil. When the rate of full-auto-fire exceeds a certain optimal rate for a particular weapon design, the muzzle no longer has sufficient time to return to the original point of aim between successive rounds, thus causing the weapon to progressively “climb” away from the original point of aim. This results in wasted ammunition and, more importantly, the possible unintentional hitting of objects other than the intended target. This control problem is compounded by the desire to reduce the size and weight of newly developed weapons. In particular, while a reduction in weight makes a weapon easier to transport, applicable to a larger user population, less weapon mass can also decrease stability and control during full-auto-fire. The laws of physics dictate that reducing the size, weight, and travel distance of a weapon's bolt or other working components, will also result in a faster action, with a corresponding increase in the rate-of-fire and therefore a detrimental increase in weapon “climb”.
A properly designed electronic rate-control-mechanism would allow a weapon designer to first determine and then employ the precise optimal rate-of-fire relative to that weapon's stability, control and hit-probability. This predetermined rate-of-fire would be totally independent of the physical size and mass of the weapons components, thus allowing for extremely small and lightweight weapon designs. An added advantage of such a rate control mechanism system would be the ability to precisely employ multiple rates-of-fire and multiple modes-of-fire in the same weapon to meet specific end-user requirements.
For an electronic rate-control mechanism to be acceptable to the military, there are at least three basic design requirements which must be addressed. First, the electronic rate-control mechanism must be independent, in that should any failure occur within the electronic rate-control device, the weapon must remain capable of discharging rounds of ammunition. Second, the rate-control mechanism must be capable of being retrofitted to an existing weapon, with an absolute minimum amount of alteration. The simpler and smaller the device in terms of components, the more practical and acceptable it will be to the military. Third, also related to simplicity, the mechanism must be cost effective, both in terms of materials and actual retrofitting. The rate-control-device to be described meets these important basic requirements. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,379,677, 5,485,776, 5,713,150, and 5,770,814 to Ealovega, et al, incorporated by reference herein, disclose various techniques for controlling the firing rate of an automatic weapon by controlling the movement of the bolt of the weapon.